Fuzzy dice, known in the British Isles as furry dice or fluffy dice, are an automotive

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 decoration consisting of two over-sized (usually six-sided) plush

Plush

Plush is a textile having a cut nap or pile the same as fustian or velvet.Originally the pile of plush consisted of mohair or worsted yarn, but now silk by itself or with a cotton backing is used for plush, the distinction from velvet being found in the longer and less dense pile of plush...

 dice

Dice

A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...

 which hang from the rear-view mirror

Rear-view mirror

A rear-view mirror is a mirror in automobiles and other vehicles, designed to allow the driver to see rearward through the vehicle's backlight ....

.

Origin and history

The practice of fuzzy dice originated in the U.S. in the 1950s and is considered one of the first items sold specifically to be hung from a rear-view mirror. The exact meaning and origin of fuzzy dice is unclear, but one theory holds that U.S. pilots in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 used dice in their cockpits for good luck, and they continued the practice when they came home from the war.

While fuzzy dice were at the height of their popularity in the 1970s and the 1980s, they have since become increasingly rare. The practice of hanging any object from the rear-view mirror is prohibited in at least one state (Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

).
A 1993 study showed there to be no correlation between the use of fuzzy dice and the degree of a driver's reckless driving behavior.

In media

In 2011 animated movie Cars 2

Cars 2

Cars 2 is a 2011 American computer-animated action film produced by Pixar, and it is the sequel to the 2006 film, Cars. In the film, race car Lightning McQueen and tow truck Mater head to Japan and Europe to compete in the World Grand Prix, but Mater becomes sidetracked with international espionage...

, an automobile character playing a gambling dice game in a casino says "C'mon, fuzzy dice!"; the voice is from film director John Lasseter

John Lasseter

John Alan Lasseter is an American animator, director and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is also currently the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering....

as a cameo.